Homer was also able to interview Harold “Doc” Smith whose father, H.H. Smith, was appointed agent here in 1927 and held the job for 36 years until his retirement in 1953 after 50 years with the railroad.
The north south rail line into Marion, Illinois was extended here from Effingham by the Chicago, Paducah and Memphis Railroad in 1895. The road was acquired by C & EI in 1899 which eventually pushed it southward to Thebes, Illinois.
When Gene Morrison’s father, F.E. Morrison came to Marion from Tuscola to join the staff, the C &EI tracks stopped at West White Street several blocks north of the present location near W. Main St. The C & EI could go no further south because of the east and west running Illinois Central tracks. The rival Illinois Central road didn’t look with favor upon any further encroachment of the C & EI.
“There was no commerce commission in those days,” Morrison recalled, “and the Illinois Central had guards to see that the C & EI didn’t cross the tracks. But one night in the fall of 1903, C & EI people bought off the guards and put the tracks down to the south across the IC tracks.
A junction of two railroads was formed and the C & EI rails were extended southward to West Main Street where the new depot was built. The old station on White Street was moved to a spot across the tracks from the new depot where for many years it housed the crew of telegraphers who handled communications incident to the movement of four passenger trains and several freight trains each day.
The station agent at that time was Fred Ridgeway. He resigned shortly after the new station was opened and joined the Consolidated Coal Company. Later he went to St. Louis where he was founder of the Seven Up Bottling Company.
Morrison recalled that in 1903, the Coal Belt Interurban line used to run up North Market, across the square and down West Main crossing the C & EI tracks. The streets were unpaved at that time and the intersection of Main and Court used to flood regularly as it did for decades after. Much of the time, muddy water would squirt out from under the Coal Belt line as the electric cars rolled their weight through the intersection.
In 1904 the Rock Island secured it and made it a part of the Frisco System.
The C & EI acquired a building site that extended from the east platform of its depot to the adjacent privately owned property, taking in what later came to be used as a street connection from West Main to West College Street. (This is the area between the depot and the Byassee Keyboard building. Morrison recalled his father telling him that a sheet metal building which stood at the east boundary of the railroad property was used for the storage of salt. The City of Marion had to pay rent on the space used as a street for decades.
The C& EI came here to haul coal from the Big Muddy and Peabody No. 2 mines. Coal in those days was hauled mostly to northern markets. Today, though it’s now owned by the Missouri Pacific, a principle function of the trains is to haul coal to the power plant at Joppa.
Passenger traffic reached its peak during Morrison’s tenure as agent. Four passenger trains a day, including Pullman service overnight between Marion and Chicago, operated until the 1920’s. Special trains were run on occasions of unusual public interest, such as basketball games, in the days before paved roads.
Beginning in 1926, however passenger service dwindled. In that year two trains providing service at noon between Marion and Salem were discontinued. Later the steam train service between Marion and Chicago gave way to a single diesel powered coach called the “Meadowlark” which was discontinued in 1961, marking the end of any sort of passenger service in and out of Marion, Illinois.
Until recent years, however, the depot continued operations as a freight station but was vacated entirely after acquisition of the C & EI by the Missouri Pacific Railroad.
The depot was sold in 1976 to the Marion Lions Club for $750 dollars and a lease was obtained on the lot still owned by the railroad.
The Lions have rehabilitated the building and fitted it for their need and the needs of other organizations that may require its use.
The former waiting room for passengers was converted into rented office space that has been occupied by an insurance agent and currently an electronic service business. The south section of the building which was used for freight storage has been remodeled into headquarters for the Lions. It includes a banquet room/ meeting hall and kitchen area.
(Extracted chiefly from Glances at life, by Homer Butler; supplemented with data and some photos from 1905 Souvenir History, edited by Sam Lattuca on 02/17/2013)